The Trial of Hans Westergaard
by RebelliousRedhead
Summary: Prince Han's honestly believed his plan would work. But when he wound up in a jail cell, married to neither of the Arendelle sisters, he decided maybe he should have put a little more thought into it.
1. Prologue

That smell, what on earth was it?  
>Three days was far too long for someone of his position to be kept waiting, especially in this dingy hovel. He could not remember a time in his life where he had ever been kept waiting. There had always been someone at his constant beck and call to bring him his shoes, fasten his cravat, polish his sword or tell him the personal details of the others.<p>

The twelve others.

Hans Westergaard had never been kept waiting more than an hour in his life. So why should he wait now?

The small cell he was locked in was freezing, an awful coastal draught coming through the tiny, barred window that looked over the fjord. Hans looked over his cell at the painfully solid wooden bed chained to the wall and the thin green blanket. The cell was identical to the one the queen had been locked in not twenty four hours previous, except for that god awful smell.

"I demand to speak with the queen!" he shouted, pressing his body against the cell door once again, and peering through the small barred window.

"You'll get your chance" the guard stationed outside the cell told him again, as he had done several times that morning. However, this time, instead of giving up and taking his seat back on the stone floor, Hans tried a different approach.  
>"Then I wish to speak to the princess"<br>"Ha!" the guard actually turned and had the audacity to smirk at him! "I can't see that happening any time soon. The princess has no desire to even be breathing the same air as you" the guard chortled.  
>This was a different guard, Hans realised, a guard was clued up about the goings on in the castle, not like the other two before him; they weren't even sure what day it was. He didn't even realise they had traded posts; it must have been during his hour of pacing in circles. Still, it couldn't hurt to push this guard too.<br>"What do you know of my fate?" Hans asked.  
>"Not much, last I heard was the princess was filling the queen in on all you were plotting. I don't think I've ever seen Her Majesty so angry, took out four windows with that ice of hers"<br>Something in the pit of the prince's stomach squirmed. Was that fear? He had seen those powers first hand up in the mountains, then again on the fjord; he knew what she was capable of, if she set her mind to it. But the foolish girl had a weakness, a weakness in the form of the naïve little redhead that would run away with any man who so much as looked at her. Slut. Hans' confidence returned slightly.

The Prince seated himself back down on the floor, feeling slightly smug that he had managed to cause the royal sisters some discomfort, even while being trapped in a cell, before that smell became apparent to him again. The prince wrinkled his nose in disgust, before shuffling closer to the door, away from the odour.

"You won't have much luck escaping that" the guard said, making Hans jump slightly. He was peering through the small, barred window in the door.

"What is it?" Hans asked.

"It's lingered here for a while now. This cell's where we used to keep the less fortunate felons"

"Less fortunate? As in peasants?"

"Nahh, they were further up that way" he nodded his head to the left, down the corridor "this is where we stored the bodies until they were buried"

The prince's calm bravado slipped slightly for a second, making the guard smirk once more.  
>"You should be a bit more patient" he told Hans "while you're down here, at least you're still breathing.<p> 


	2. Chapter 1

"So then he came out with this dumb line like 'oh Anna, if only there was someone out there who loved you' and I won't lie, it did hurt, but at that point I was more confused than anything"  
>"Can I stop you right there, Anna?" The queen asked, holding up an un-gloved hand while the other rigidly gripped the armrest of her chair. Anna paused in her story. She was sat opposite her sister in the queen's study, behind a large mahogany desk. She had never really been in here before, since her parents were lost. When Elsa had claimed it for herself there was no need. It was full of paperwork and thick ,leather bound books with no pictures and no happily ever after's; just facts and numbers. There was nothing in here that was any interest to the princess and so she left it alone.<br>Elsa was staring at her desk, unable to blink and unwilling to move. She took a deep breath before looking back at her sister.

"I'm calm now, please continue" the queen said, and so Anna began where she left off.

"As I said, I was confused at first, I mean, I thought he loved me. Then he started on about how he was thirteenth in line to his throne and he'd have to marry into the crown if he was to be -"

"But I'm the queen?" Elsa interrupted.

"He said you were preferable, but he settled for me" Anna shrugged.

There was a crunching sound and Anna noticed frost forming on the study windows around them.

"Nobody should settle for you, Anna, you are a wonderful young woman" Elsa spat through gritted teeth "Don't you ever let anyone tell you otherwise"

"Whatever, it doesn't matter" Anna waved her hand "Shall I continue?" she asked, eyeing the frost nervously.

"Please" Elsa said, eyebrows furrowed in concentration and hands gripping her seat.

"So he put out the fire and closed the drapes, ensuring that room was pretty darn cold, before locking me in"

"Wait, he locked the door? How did you get out?"

"Olaf" Anna explained "He found me and convinced me that maybe I was loved and I couldn't give up, so I went with him out on to the fjord to find Kristoff.

"He is the blonde man from the mountains?" Elsa asked.

"Yes, he was coming back anyway, Olaf saw him through the window. I should probably count my lucky stars you made him" Anna let out a nervous chuckle, eyeing the now ice covered windows again.

"Anna" Elsa said seriously "You are aware that Hans tried to kill you in that room? He left you there to die"

"I know" Anna said "and I thought about it a little at the time but I was worried more about you, I wasn't sure where you were, I thought he was going to come up to the north mountain and get you too. I knew you were strong, after seeing all that ice and Marshmallow and -"

"Marshmallow?"

"Your giant snowman guard, Olaf named him. But, anyway, we got out onto the fjord through one of the windows in the corridor and I tried to get to Kristoff, I really did, and we were so close but then I saw you and Hans with that big old sword and I knew I had to do something, I couldn't just stand there and let him kill you"

There was a pause for a moment while the two sisters looked at each other.

"Thank you" Elsa said suddenly "I don't think I've said that yet"

"It's no problem" Anna smiled "Can I go now? It's just, I promised to help Kristoff find the carrots for Sven, uh, he's the reindeer"

"Yes you may leave" Elsa told her, gesturing to the door and Anna hurried towards it, pulling it open before turning back.

"Uh, Elsa? Do you think you can get hold of a really great sled? I sorta broke Kristoff's"

A faint smile tugged at the corner of the queen's lips before she replied "I'll see what I can do"

"Thanks, Elsa, you're the best!" Anna turned away.

"Anna!" Elsa called and her sister looked round once more "My door is always open"

Anna beamed at her sister before hurrying down the corridor.

That was when Elsa's calm broke. The icy blast even alarmed her as it ripped through the room, the windows around her shattering into thousands of tiny pieces, carefully organised papers somersaulted from the desk in the air, the floor became a skating rink, and a thin layer of ice covered the furniture.

Elsa cursed under her breath; although secretly glad some of the tension had left her. She closed her eyes and thought of love, of her sister who was safe and warm downstairs, in the company of a man who had risked his own life to save her. Love will thaw. Love will thaw. Anna had saved her and their bond had saved them both. Anna had never given up on her and now she was the reason the world was right again.  
>She opened her eyes to find a thawed room, and four pairs of eyes scanning the scene from the doorway.<p>

"Your highness?" Gerda asked, staying rooted in the doorway "Is everything alright?"

"Yes, thank you Gerda. I just had a little accident. Anna was filling me in on events that I seem to have missed"

"I see" Gerda nodded, knowingly and moved into the room, followed by Kai and the two guards. She began picking up the paper that was littering the floor while the guards surveyed the empty windows. Kai, however, moved towards the queen.

"Your majesty, the captain wished me to tell you the prisoner is secure"

"Yes, yes, good" Elsa murmured, surveying the mess she had made and blushing slightly.

When everything was picked up and measurements had been taken for window panes to be replaced immediately, the queen dismissed the crowd in the room. They all began to leave before Elsa spoke up.

"Kai, may I speak with you?" the queen asked.

"Yes, your grace?" he turned while Gerda closed the door quietly.

"I- I am not sure how to put this" Elsa began.

"Then you must say it how you wish, your majesty" Kai said sympathetically, moving back towards the queen.

"It's just, I've never had to deal with this before. I've read and reread the books, the historical documents, but I don't know what to do with _him" _She spat the last word "I don't want an entire kingdom moving against me, especially one with twelve other prince's, not when this kingdom has already got so much to deal with" She waved her hands in front of them and sighed "the parliament are already wary of me, more so now than before. It was bad enough being a woman in power, let alone a monster with an entire army that must obey her every command".

"Queen Elsa, you are not a monster" Kai said sternly "You are a fearless leader and one who I'm sure would always do the best for the kingdom"

Elsa looked at her feet. Sure, that was easy for him to say, he'd known her all her life. He'd known about her powers from the moment she made a blizzard around her crib in a fierce tantrum. But what about those who were on the outside, who had never seen anything like this; those who wouldn't trust her because of her magic?

"What would my father do, Kai?" she asked before she could stop herself "I don't want to upset Anna, she did like this man. I don't want to make the kingdom think I'm any more of a monster for executing a prince who was to wed the princess of Arendelle"

"From what I've seen of the princess, she is well and truly over her infatuation with _this particular_ man. As for the kingdom, why don't you remove the decision of the prisoner's fate from your own hands?"

"Excuse me?"

Kai moved towards the sturdy book shelf in the corner and pulled off a particularly heavy, leather book.

"Infamous Trials of the Arendellian Court" he read to her, before placing it on the desk.

"A trial?" Elsa asked.

"Yes, let parliament decide Prince Hans' fate. They will have control. Besides, you will more than likely have to testify after what happened on the fjord; nobody could see anything through the blizzard. As will your sister and her new friends, no doubt"

"How did you become so knowledgeable on court proceedings?" Elsa asked with a small smile, sitting back in her seat and opening the book.

Kai chuckled "I've spent many years in this palace, working close to you and your father previously. You pick up on things. Is there anything else I can do for you, your majesty or shall I leave you to your reading?"

"That will be all thank you, Kai" she said and he began to leave.

"Oh" she said "Can you send a message to the carpenter, I wish to purchase his finest sled. Tell him Princess Anna will be along with the payment tomorrow afternoon"

"I shall, your majesty" he said, closing the door behind him while Elsa turned back to the book. It was going to be a long evening.


End file.
